by Charles E Carlson
Few Europeans or Americans ever get into Gaza. Security in and out is controlled, not by Palestinians but by soldiers at its Southgate. During my two crossings, the corridor was empty, except for a few Israeli civilians and guards. How does one enter Gaza? Though an Israeli-controlled checkpoint.
Gaza is only three to five miles wide and about 20 miles long. If there was a highway around it, you could circumvent the entire Gaza Strip in one hour without breaking any speed limit! Over two million people try to live there, most Muslims. Few Americans have been inside the gates of Gaza because Israel does not allow them. Israeli military and police tell potential visitors to Gaza they are not allowed in because it is “too dangerous.” This author knows this from personal experience.
I do not know why Israel allowed me in three days before what had to be a scheduled airstrike. I and two American missionaries may have been the only US witnesses to this American-made, Israeli-flown Apache attack on Gaza civilians.
I heard and saw some 40 American-made Hellfire missiles fired from American-made Apache choppers. These helicopters never wandered from their approximate 3000 feet away from me, and about 70 degrees above the horizon, as I viewed them overhead from my hotel roof. One by one, they broke off to fly East, returning with undercarriage reloaded with more Hellfire missiles. The raid lasted more than three hours, and about 40 missiles, without one answering shot fired in reply from the ground below.
Not one account of this brutal killing raid made the US press, as is the rule, not the exception for Gaza.
The wall made it easy to control incoming visitors like me; twenty years and six months ago, I found myself inside, under a flight of parked, Apache helicopters bombing Gaza City. It was the first bombing raid of my life, including my time in the US military. For Gaza women and children it can happen anytime, with no warning.
Where is the truth about Gaza? We present the gist of reports from respected organizations. The subject is a life or death matter for two million or more humans in this walled Biblical land. Gaza is mentioned four times in the Old Testament: Gen 12.19, Jude16, Jer 4.7, Amos 1.6, Zeph 2.4, Zach9.5 (Concordant King James Edition).
Can you, the reader know that what I write is accurate? Most writings about Gaza are not. You can see what I saw in our free-to-watch video Roots of Christian Zionism. You will hear my account of the Israeli raid that killed four and wounded many more. The next day I photographed and narrated the funeral procession for four killed Gaza civilians. It is all on the what.org website.
In this paper, we will discuss two of many conflicting reports. It will be up to you to decide what is and is not true.
The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting over Gaza earlier this year (2022). Since then, the UN has done nothing, and Israel’s air raids and attendant killing of Palestinians have increased dramatically.
But where is the resistance?
Suggested reading about life and death in Gaza, Cruelty Without Consequences, By Jonathan Kuttab )
A is a first-hand account of life in Gaza. Kuttab writes for Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA)
FOSNA is alive and at work saving lives in Gaza. It is related to and supported by (but not a part of) the United Methodist Church.
FOSNA tells us, “Only days ago, Israeli military managed to rain death and destruction on Gaza, assassinating another Islamic Jihad leader, killing 46 Palestinians (including 16 children), and wounding 460 others.”
We Hold These Truths does not know how many of these 460 survived. Most hospitals have been destroyed or damaged.
According to FOSNA, the Security Council of the United Nations held an emergency meeting over Gaza to deal with what can be best called planned executions. The Palestinian ambassador to the UN asks when will ‘enough be enough’ as council members expressed concern about recent violence.
Several US Mainline churches have, to various degrees, awakened to the ongoing tragedy in Gaza, and recognize it as God’s business. This growing list includes The Evangelical Lutheran Church, The Presbyterian Church USA, The United Methodist Church, and others.
Part 2 will examine:
Gaza is overpopulated and has little fresh water, virtually no tillable land, little or no valuable minerals, and no discovered petroleum. So why the brutality against Gaza’s people? Look for answers in the next addition.
Charles Carlson
